River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-08-25
MRS. LOGAN.

Mrs. Logan is still suffering great,
from the accident she met with il
Illinois, says the Washington Nationa
Tribune of August l3. Ia fact her in
jury was far more serious than the pub
lie was allowed to know, and sh,
barley escaped death in reality. Sh,
is yet confined to her bed. but feels
that sense of relief which comes to q
patient who is able to reach home, and
to know that the proper surgical treat.
ment has been given to the case. The
wonnd in her head is far along to-
ward recovery, but the injured shoulder
is subject at intervals to racking pains,
from which their is no relief.
The serious nature of the circum-
stances under which Mrs. Logan was
hurt are not realized yet, except by the
personal friends of the family She
was driving with another lady near
Carbondale, Ill. Upon approac hing a
bridge over creek it was noticed that
a loaded wagon in crossing had broken
a board, causing one end to be tilted
up. The horse they were driving took
fright at this and refused to cross. On
the approach to the bridge he observed
the broken board and began to back.
Nothing could be done TO induce him
to 90 forward by the two ladies, and he
backed clear off the planks and down
the bank of earth which led up TO it
and stopped. When the animal stop
ped Mrs. Logan told her companion to
hold him, and she would get out and
take him by the bits and lead him over
Neither of the ladies were frightened,
both supposing that the horse was in a
measure quoted then, having backed
clear away from the suspicious, broken
plank of the structure.
The vehicle was an old-fashioned
piano-box buggy, and the top was up.
Mrs. Logan had just put her foot upon
the iron step at the side TO alight when
the horse seemed to take new alarm
and began to back and plunge. The
motion of the buggy naturally threw
her from her insecure position between
the wheel and the bed of the carriage,
and in falling her left arm passed be-
tween the spokes of the fore wheel
She was thus turned down under the
buggy, and her head brought under the
horses heels. The agony of such a
situation cannot be described. 1t was
as though rack was bending the arm
from its socket, and at the same time
bruising and decorating the flesh to a
pulp. TO add to the horror of the po-
sition the horse planted a foot, sharp
shod, on the top of her head, cutting
an impression of the shoe all the
way round, clear through the
scalp to the skull, and in her struggles
for release managed someway to plant
another hoof upon her with full force,
crushing the instep of one foot.
Mrs. Logan did not lose her self
possession, but told her companion not
to try to get out of the buggy as she
might further brighten the horse. Her
friend obeyed her directions, and for
tunately at this juncture a gentleman
who knew them came running up the
road and took the brute by the bits. In
the meantime he had backed the buggy
down the bank. Mrs. Logan had
strength enough to grasp shrub grow
ing at the side of the road with her dis
engaged hand, and draw herself out
from under the vehicle. She attempted
to walk, but found she could not, and
sank kOwn on the embankment. The
gentleman who had appeared so oppor-
timely sent for doctor, and took her
to a neighbor's house, where the news
of her injury had preceded her, and she
was carried in.
All this time she was bleeding pro-
fusely from the wound i'm the head, and
was deluged from the head to foot with
blood, when the doctor arrived. Her
friends did not expect her to survive,
thinking her skull must be fractured.
The wound in the head proved to be
the least serious, however, and was
sewed up and packed with lint, when
the hemorrhage was checked and the cut
healed by first intention, without sacri-
ficing her magnificent suit of snowy
hair.
The left arm and side were so bruised
and lacerated as to forbid close ex-
animation, and all that was done was
to bandage it up and apply lotions to
remove the soreness of the flesh.
She remained in bed where she was
taken for Is days, when she insisted up
on the attempt to come home. Her son
had come from Ohio in the meantime,
and he took her to Chicago in car
arranged for her. Here her
daughter-in-law met her, and after "a
hours rest at the Grand Pacific Hotel
the journey to Washington was resum-
ed. The agony she endured on the
way was well nigh uncomfortable, and
physicians were summoned to meet her
upon her arrival, but they found her
too weak that day to make an eXamina-
ton, and directed a nights rest as the
sine qua non before proceeding to do
She knew all the time that hershoulder
was not right. She had not taken an
of any kind upon its treat
ment at Carbonate, and so bruised and
lacerated was the flesh that the cond-
ton of the bones could not be learned.
The next morning after reaching
home Surg. Gen. Hamilton, of the
Marine Hospital Service. one of the
most skillful Surgeons in the world,
came at Mrs. Logan request and made
a critical examination. He found that
she was in a frightful condition. Her
shoulder was dislocated. Her left ell
bow was dislocated and the shoulder
blade on the same side was fractured.
Over two weeks had then elapsed, and
the parts lad begun to knit again in a
false position. Instant action was
necessary.
Weakened by long suffering and
fatigue of travel in torrid Midsum-
mer, the administration of ether was
an absolute necessity to prevent ner-
vous shock too great for her system to
withstand. The parts must be
wrenched asunder again. The knitting
bones must be broken. The combined